You have to intentionally miss that free throw… just fire a chest pass off the front of the rim, ball comes off akward and you have a chance to get it.
Really poor coaching decision there.
I would missed that one. But if you had, you probably don’t have this chance to tie or win on the last possession. I don’t know which has a better chance to be honest – getting a free throw rebound against Lofton vs. making a well defended 3. Neither is likely.
The early free throw misses came back to haunt. La Tech didn’t miss any all game I don’t think. Braun probably needed to foul Lofton more, really, but he couldn’t move his feet well enough to give one before it would have been pointless to do so.
Knew it was a tough match, knew you all were way overconfident. Definitely the worst case scenario to lose Bediako (on a play that should have been an offensive foul). Will never know how Jaden would have coped down the stretch but he was doing a decent job I thought. Would have been out for the first half, but had 3 fouls to give in the 2nd and Braun might have been more useful as a defensive rebounder than a primary defender.
Need Vrankic back desperately. 3 legitimate options on offense vs. 2 is a helluva difference. Definitely a great sign if he is no longer contagious and is just needing to get his strength back.
Got a decent look at the buzzer. Probably some contact on Keyshawn’s shot but ref’s aren’t going to call a foul in that situation unless it’s glaring.
Hoping Bediako injury isn’t too serious. The way he grabbed his foot it looked like a foot and not an ankle which worries me…big men and foot issues and all.
Good news is with Vrankic on the bench he must no longer have active Mono and hopefully on the road to recovery and maybe return in a week or two even if in more limited minutes if he’s regaining strength and conditioning. And same w/ Holt. Getting those two back soon would mitigate if Bediako is out long term.
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Would like to see just one season where it’s not like this and the guys you want to be available are, you get practice time, can live at home, etc. Injuries in basketball are not that common. It’s not like soccer where practically everyone gets injured in a season and some several.
Hopefully can get healthy before Cal and Boise. And I don’t know how you get Pipes and Braun some rest but they need it. Braun was baked at 15 minutes and I don’t know if Pipes even made it out of the starting gate.
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Is Holt a real option right now (assuming he was healthy)? Today I suppose if he had a pulse today he would have been. But he looks even lighter in the pants than Tongue.
Going to be hard to win against any Top 100 team when we shoot 28% from 3. Can’t believe LA Tech went 13-13 from the line. My only complaint was not sending the entire team at Lofton on the last 4 possessions when he went Layup, Layup, Layup, Dunk. I would have rather taken my chances with one of their streaky 3 point shooters making a basket. But anyway, good schedule so far. I at least feel the team is being battled tested.
13-13, and they banked in a 3 and Christon who doesn’t make 3s…did. And SCU missed 4 of 8 early. A lot of things that went in a less than fortunate way to give them the edge going into the stretch run and then they were able to hold onto it.
Bringing Lofton to the foul line extended makes it really hard to double. And if you do, he can always just pass back out and then repost down low while the double man is recovering. Credit to him, a lot of college bigs aren’t versatile enough to make it work. SCU has played two of them. You really need your big to move his feet and stop their guy’s progression, make him spin back into help, something. And Braun didn’t do it once. Legs were gone, probably folds into mental fatigue as well. Pipes getting absolutely toasted backdoor was definitely both mental and physical fatigue. But if Lofton loses even 15-20 pounds, he’s a first-round pick IMO.
I don’t know how you both boost stamina and get a fatigued player rest, but that’s what they both need right now. Now that I think about it, La Tech having a non-shooting point guard probably saved Pipes from getting taken advantage of more often. SCU had been using him to double bc of that but he was slow getting there every time. Can’t wait until he gets 2 steps toward the basket if you’re a guard. It’s too late. Hesitant, like he has been on offense the last several games.
Maybe the simplest analysis: Lofton scored 31, J Williams scored 28. Everything else cancelled out.
Their star was just a little better than SCU’s star, as good as he was. Of course never know what changes if Bediako is able to come back, not to mention all the other ways SCU is not as good as they could be right now. But as it was, 31-28 is the difference.
Hopefully that drives Jalen to keep improving. He’s going to have a lot more chances to be the difference maker this year, I think.
I’m not sure what game you was watching as you talk about Pipes but it wasn’t the same game.
Who fighting through picks all game and on switches, fighting with a center because that’s the game plan ?
Maybe be a fan and stop trying to analyze everything and why it happened.
Just Win Baby, Just Win…
Let’s go…
Nah, I’ll do what I want, and I think it’s inappropriate for you to try to tell someone what they can and can’t say.
Trust me, Pipes was gassed. No lift on his shot, arc was low, and no he was not doing well on defense, especially toward the end. He got spun around on a basic move at the top of the key that ended up being an open 3, and then got absolutely dusted on a back door by a guy that isn’t even an outside shooting threat. He was a shadow of the guy that played Stanford.
He wasn’t fighting with a center. He was doubling down on the first dribble because his primary man shot like 19% from 3 for the season. Unfortunately, he was usually late, and did not enough fighting.
I mean, you can choose to think there was another reason he played so poorly, and if valid, that would be more problematic than the most obvious explanation. But I feel like a guy that played like he did against Stanford and TCU showed more than to think he’s not good enough.
Hopefully Tomley will get back to full game shape, earn some more playing time (though foot speed is always going to be an issue), and Bediako’s injury isn’t serious, and Vrankic will be back soon.